A variety of lawn edgers are commonly utilized to remove unwanted grass, weeds, and soil that typically extends from areas of vegetation onto improved surfaces such as pathways, sidewalks, curbs, and roads. This process is commonly referred to as edging. In residential applications, edging is typically performed using motorized devices that are manually pushed or carried by a person. This approach is suitable because the amount of edging to be performed in most residential applications is limited by the size of the person's yard. However, in other applications where edging operations involve a greater area of land, such as pathways in parks, cart paths on golf courses, curbs on public roads, parking lots in business parks, it is advantageous for edging to be performed by an operator on a self-propelled vehicle such as a tractor or utility vehicle. Accordingly, a variety of vehicle mounted edgers have been designed and configured for these applications.
In some cases, the prior art utilizes a vehicle mounted edger design that requires extensive modifications to the subject vehicle prior to installation. In these cases, it is also common for the installation and removal of the vehicle mounted edger to be somewhat cumbersome. It would be advantageous if a vehicle mounted edger was designed to readily interface with an existing vehicle without requiring extensive alterations. It would also be advantageous for the vehicle mounted edger to be easily installed and removed from the vehicle. These features would allow one vehicle to be utilized in many different manners without significantly impacting the other uses of the vehicle.
In some cases, the prior art requires an auxiliary power source or significant manual exertion by the operator to effectuate its purpose. It would be advantageous for a vehicle mounted edger to utilize the existing power sources of the vehicle or to be configured to minimize the manual exertion required by the operator. In some cases, the prior art attempts to design a vehicle mounted edger that compensates for the inability of the operator to maintain a course that keeps the cutting mechanism in proper alignment with the surface being edged. It would be advantageous if the vehicle mounted edger assisted the operator in guiding the vehicle so the edging device remains positioned between the grass and the improved surface. In other cases, the prior art positions the cutting mechanism in a location that is difficult for the operator to view while driving the vehicle. It would be advantageous if the operator of the vehicle could easily view the cutting mechanism while driving the vehicle so that the driver could pay requisite attention to upcoming obstacles while monitoring the edging operation. In that regard, it is desirable for the cutting mechanism to be positioned in the operator's clear view with minimal obstruction of the path ahead.
In some cases, the prior art provides complicated edging devices with numerous components subject to wear, damage, or failure. In these cases, the numerous components may complicate the manufacturing process as well as increase the likelihood additional maintenance and repairs will be required during service. It would be advantageous to have a vehicle mounted edger that utilized a minimal number of durable and reliable components that are simple to manufacture.
Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,907,039, 4,200,155, 4,629,006, 4,930,580, 3,019,844, 7,128,164, and 4,691,784. However, each one of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages: auxiliary power is required is needed to operate the cutting mechanism, manual engagement by the operator is required, manual exertion of forces by the operator is required, the edging device cannot be readily observed by the operator, precise steering is needed to properly position the edger, multiple components are subject to failure or wear, multiple components increase manufacturing difficulty, installation and removal is cumbersome, and extensive vehicle modifications are required. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a vehicle mounted edging device that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.